Lectio Divina: The Medieval Experience of Reading (Volume 238) (Cistercian Studies Series)

During the Middle Ages the act of reading was experienced intensively in the monastic exercise of __lectio divina__ 'the prayerful scrutiny of passages of Scripture, savored in meditation, memorized, recited, and rediscovered in the reader's own religious life. The rich literary tradition that arose from this culture includes theoretical writings from the __Conferences__ of John Cassian (fifth century) through the twelfth-century treatises of Hugh of St. Victor and the Carthusian Guigo II; it also includes compilations, literary meditations, and scriptural commentary, notably on the Song of Songs. This study brings medievalist research together with modern theoretical reflections on the act of reading in a consolidation of historical scholarship, spirituality, and literary criticism. __Duncan Robertson has taught French and Latin, language and literature, at Augusta State University since 1990. Previous publications include__ The Medieval Saints' Lives: Spiritual Renewal and Old French Literature __(Lexington, KY: French Forum, 1995), and__ The Vernacular Spirit: Essays on Medieval Religious Literature__, with Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Nancy Warren (New York: Palgrave, 2002). His articles have appeared in__ Romance Philology, French Forum, Cahiers de Civilisation Madiavale, __and other journals in the United States and abroad.__ Preface. Lectio divinia ; In the monastery ; Reading and exegesis ; Reading beyond reading Chapter I : Scholarly contexts : ressourcement and research. Ressourcement ; Jean Leclercq ; Henri de Lubac ; Research and practice ; Implications for literary theory Chapter II : The interpretation of the Scriptures. Letter and spirit ; Origen's On first principles ; Saint Augustine ; Saint Gregory the Great Chapter III : Reading and meditation. Classical education ; The conversion of reading ; Cassian's Conferences ; Reading in the monastery Chapter IV : Reading into writing. Chapters on reading ; Liturgy and private prayer ; Carolingian Libelli precum Chapter V : The extension of meditation. John of Fécamp's Confessio theologica ; Saint Anselm of Canterbury's Orationes sive meditationes Chapter VI : Reading the Song of songs. Origen's Commentary on the Song of songs ; Origen's Homilies on the Song of songs ; Gregory's Exposition on the Song of songs ; Bernard of Clairvaux's Sermons on the Song of songs ; Bernard's reading project ; Allegorical analysis ; The voice of the bride Chapter VII : The twelfth-century integration. Meditatio and Meditationes ; Hugh of Saint-Victor ; Guigo II Chapter VIII : The book of experience.